FROM https://www.reddit.com/r/Fedora/comments/zmvkdj/8bitdo_ultimate_bluetooth_controller_working_in/
I've bought this new controller from 8BitDo and wished to use on linux, to my sadness the controller didn't work out of the box, neither by cable, the 2.4G dongle or bluetooth.
So I've tried a number of solutions and this one from u/GodOfEmus over in the 8bitdo community was the one to work for me:
- Create a new file /etc/udev/rules.d/99-8bitdo-xinput.rules
- Paste this udev rule in there, then save and exit the file:
ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2dc8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="3106", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe xpad", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo 2dc8 3106 > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/xpad/new_id'"
- Run the following command in a terminal:
sudo udevadm control --reload
- Unplug and replug the controller if it was already plugged in, it might take a second if you have the bluetooth version
It will basically "cheat" the OS to see the controller as an generic xbox device, so sadly no bluetooth nor gyro control if you care about that, but the rumbling is working for me.
Link to the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/8bitdo/comments/ykdsmv/ultimate_24_ghz_model_right_analog_not_working_in/
And link to the comment of u/GodOfEmus with the solution: https://www.reddit.com/r/8bitdo/comments/ykdsmv/comment/iv48s4k/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Sharing this solution here to spread the word in our community
This works... kinda.
After the modification, if I turn on the controller (remove it from cradle), it will switch off after about 5-7 seconds. It's as if the OS isn't "keeping it alive." If I have something open that is actually POLLING the gamepad (like KDE's Game Controller configuration tool thing in settings) it seems to stay on, at least longer. It stayed on for about a minute in test. As soon as I close the config tool that's polling the controller, it automatically shuts off again.
The Windows driver must do some kind of "keepalive" packet once every few seconds to tell it to stay on. Linux isn't doing this because, it's being fooled to support a radio device I guess, and the controller isn't hearing anything from the PC.